Her Own Hero (Rewrite)
by Motherbear087
Summary: Katana is quite possibly the most stubborn femme in existence. She's always protected herself and the one's she loves. She refused to seek help when she knew deep down that she needed it. When she meets a certain mech, perhaps she'll learn that seeking help doesn't make her weak or dependant, and she can still be her own hero. Maybe she'll teach him a thing or two along the way
1. Chapter 1

_Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim_ \- Nora Ephron

Chapter One

The local star rose above the metallic landscape, bathing it in beams of yellow and orange, revealing a sprawling city beginning to stir. Atop one massive building sat a young femme. The warm colors of the sun danced across her jet black frame, blending with the gold and red accents, creating a start contrast with her dark blue optics. She enjoyed the tranquility of the city just before it sprung to life. She continued to watch as the light bounced off of the silver and gray structures, letting the warmth relax her circuits, until the sound of her lessor screaming up at her pierced the silence.

"Katana! If I have to tell you to stop climbing up to the roof when it's dark one more time, I'll double your rent! I mean it this time!"

The corner of her mouth curled up in annoyance as she went down the stairs to her room. She made it two steps through the door before he began to go on and on about what it would do to his business if one of his previous renters ended up in a million pieces.

"I'd be ruined, ya know," he said. "Who'd want to live in a place where the previous resident hit the ground going 77 meters per second?"

"Aw, are you sure you wouldn't just miss me?" Katana teased.

"Ha! Like a scraplet in my rear!", he responded. "Get to work so I can get paid. 1500 credits, and it better not be late this time!"

He stormed out the door, grumbling about anything and everything. Katana rolled her optics at the cranky lessor. He loved to yell, but he never made good on his threats. After quickly fueling up, she descended to the ground floor and headed off to the Argentum City police headquarters.

Katana's job was simple. She worked worked with a team of elite criminal profilers to develop a profile of a wanted felon. Once they were finished, it was her job to use that information to go find them and bring them in to custody. The worse the criminal, the more she and the rest of her team got paid. At the time, they were analyzing a mentally unstable mech who'd committed vicious and seemingly random assaults on passer-by's. Recently, her job had become a lot more dangerous; many of the criminals they were looking for joined the Decepticons, and breaking into Megatron's base to haul away his soldiers wasn't exactly a good idea. Looking for a psychotic individual with no clear motivation was a much needed break. Katana walked into HQ and entered the room designated for her team. Standing around the table was the terse and methodical Requiem, a red, slender mech, the quiet and amiable Ares, a pink and gray femme, and the charismatic Turbine, a stocky purple mech. Turbine flashed Katana a rather goofy grin and beckoned her over.

"Primus, femme, it took you long enough!"

Katana mock glared at Turbine and punched him in the arm.

"Sorry, guys. I was stuck behind oafs like Turbine who can't drive if their lives depended on it. So, what have we gotten so far?"

"Case number 108-343 has been unstable for most of his existence," Requiem stated as he looked up from his data pad. "A family friend stated that he used to go to an old park on the outskirts of Kaon when he felt angry or threatened. Decepticon presence there has likely driven him away, as he's never looked for a fight he can't win."

Katana quickly began to give out instructions.

"Ares, Turbine, look into his history."

"Already on it."

"You got it!"

"Requiem, help me look into neighboring cities that he might take refuge in."

The team continued working into the afternoon, when Cruiser, one of the many officers, brought in another case.

"This is an interesting one. A femme by the name of Arachnid is wanted for twenty abduction charges, espionage, twenty five assault charges, and thirty murder charges. By the looks of it, she's still at it, and –"

"And she's a higher ranking member of the Decepticons. A torture specialist, at that.", Katana interjected. "I thought we went through this, if they're part of the War, leave them to the Autobots. Now, if you don't have any more idiotic missions, I think you should get back to your work."

Cruiser stood there, stunned for a moment, then slammed the door while calling her quite a few obscene names. The room was silent for a while, until Turbine decided to comment.

"Rawr! Sassy today, aren't we?"

Everyone in the room burst into hysterical laughter. Everyone except for Katana.

"I wasn't being sassier than usual, he's just an aft and a moron. Don't you remember all of the times he tried to sabotage me at the Academy?"

"Didn't you threaten to drop kick his little brother out of a window?" Turbine asked, attempting to wipe the lubricant tears out of his optics.

"Well… yeah. But we were kids, and it's not like I – hold on how did you know about that? That happened well before you enrolled."

"You and I both know that Hypernova loves to talk."

She paused, then agreed that it made sense.

Requiem looked at them oddly.

"Hypernova?"

"She was my bunk mate at the Academy. She's rather prissy and whiney, but she's nice enough, and she loved gossip." Ares, who was quiet up until that point, addressed both Katana and Turbine.

"You both went to a prestigious military academy, yet you haven't joined the War. Why, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed," Turbine put his arms in the air and turned. "I'm not very intimidating, or coordinated. I would get thrown out pretty quickly."

Katana, without looking away from her data pad, responded,

"I don't see the point. I'm going to go get my aft shot at and kill mechs I've never seen, for what? If I see a really good reason to join the fight against the Decepticons, then by all means sign me up. Until then, I'm perfectly happy with bringing in criminals and getting paid."

Ares nodded in understanding, continuing her research.

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, signaling the end of the first shift. The offices began to empty as officers began to pack up and head home. The team was debating on whether or not they wanted to work a second shift and take off the next day, when the sound of jets flying over head got everyone's attention. Murmurs of confusion filled HQ. Air patrols were a rarity in Argentum, as there was no militia stationed within the city. Everyone was cut off when an explosion went off, shaking the ground and knocking equipment to the floor, followed by another, and another.

Turbine steadied himself on the table, shielding Ares from falling debris.

"What the frag was that!? There's nothing here to attack, why would soldiers be here? What could they- Katana! Katana where are you going!?"

Turbine tried to stop Katana, but she bolted out of the building and on to the streets. When the rest of them got outside, she was staring off to the Eastern area of the city, where a giant column of smoke was forming. Turbine and the others stood with her.

"What are they aiming for? The only thing there is…"

Katana finished Requiems sentence.

"The hospital. A few Autobot commanders transferred there to see a burn specialist. The Decepticons must have found out somehow. Those fraggers are bombing the hospital." Without another word, she transformed and raced off towards the explosions, completely ignoring her teammates telling her to wait.

"She dove into a problem without thinking. Again." Ares said. "Now what?"

Turbine looked back at the team, shrugged his shoulders, and transformed.

"Follow her.", he said before driving off.

Ares and Requiem shared a look of annoyance, then followed Turbine.

Katana pulled up to the smoldering wreck that was a hospital. Patients and doctors alike were fleeing from the building that looked ready to collapse at any moment. Decepticons kept coming, dropping bombs on the already crippled hospital and firing at civilians trying to flee. Once Turbine and the rest pulled up, she looked back and told them she was going in. She was met with "are you crazy!?"and "you'll get killed!" from all three of them.

"I'm going in whether you like it or not. If you don't want to help, then stay here. I can do this on my own."

Turbine went to stop her, but she was too fast.

"What in the name of the Allspark is wrong with that femme!?"

A/N: I read over the original and didn't like the way it was written, at all. The plot will be the same, but told differently.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Katana ran into the building, and had to hold onto a pillar when she saw the carnage in front of her. The dead were strewn everywhere. Many had been crushed by falling debris, still more were blown apart. The injured were holding their severed arms, or dragging their crushed legs. After composing herself, she decided to take it one floor at a time. Katana began pulling the living out of the door and into the arms of emergency personnel. She saw one very young mech curled up in a ball on the other side of the room, terrified but seemingly uninjured. She went to grab him, but another explosion rocked the foundation, causing a pillar to crash down in front of her. She cursed and began to look for a way around it. She jumped up to the second floor, using wreckage to propel herself. Maneuvering through jagged edges, exposed wires, and pieces of doctors and patients, she came to a hole right above him. She jumped down, grabbed the small child, and carried him back across the crumbling second floor to the exit. She handed the kid to his hysterical mother, and watched them run off into a neighboring building with medical personnel. She went to go after anyone trapped on the second floor, when she saw Autobots running into the building. Katana was confused as to why they were ignoring the Decepticons flying in the sky above them. Instead of dwelling on it, she ran in with them.

They'd only cleared four of the twenty floors, when the building began to groan and sway. Autobots began to throw the injured down to their comrades, others carrying the ones too big to fit out of the window down the stairs. Even when the top of the building began to crumble and slowly crush the floors under it, they continued to climb, saving whoever they could. Katana had just handed off an unconscious femme to a soldier near the window when a large section of the floor above them collapsed, creating a massive hole. One soldier was hanging on to a cable, energon leaking rapidly from him. Without thinking twice, she ran over to him and offered her hand. He looked up, trying to identify who this femme was.

"Wh-who the frag are you?"

She scoffed in annoyance at him.

"Would you like me to leave you here? Just take my hand and be thankful."

He opened his mouth to say something, but the shuddering building caused him to reconsider. He grabbed her hand, and she pulled him up high enough for him to climb out. He tried to stand, but hissed in pain as his mangled leg gave out. Katana draped one of his arms around her shoulder, and helped him climb down to the ground floor. As soon as they got out the door, the hospital began to collapse. The roof came crashing down, and the rest of the building followed. The ground shook as everyone trapped inside was crushed, civilians and Autobots alike.

There was an eerie silence; no jets flew, there was no yelling or sirens. Just silence. Then, as reality hit, screaming filled the air as many ran to the wreckage, looking in vain for lost friends and loved ones. Katana stood there, ignoring Turbine while he shook her and looked for injuries. She was filled with a complex mixture of emotions. She was devastated by the loss of life, sickened by the scent of scorched metal and energon, and angry. She was still trying to find out who she was angry at. If the Autobots hadn't transferred to the hospital, none of this would have happened. They should have kept far away from neutral cities. But, there was no guarantee that they would have been safe. The Decepticons proved today that they had no qualms with killing the innocent. Whose to say that they wouldn't have attacked for something else. The Autobots ran into the wreckage, not giving one thought to their own safety, some at the cost of their life. She thought back to a body that was once an infant. They had killed the weak and defenseless. Decepticons. Katana was very, _very_ , angry with the Decepticons.

"Katana, please talk to us! Are you okay?"

Turbines voice pulled her back from her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I think we should go, we've done what we can."

They tried to convince her to see a medic, but she brushed them off and told them to go home.

Katana shuffled into her apartment, closed the door, and walked into the washroom. The jet of cleaner dislodged debris from her armor and removed dried energon. Completely drained she collapsed on her berth without drying off and drifted into a deep, dreamless recharge.

She was greeted in the morning by Turbine banging on her door.

"Katana, are you okay? Katana it's me."

She forced herself to get up and answer the door. She opened the door and invited Turbine to come in. They sat at a small table, going over what happened the day before. After a brief pause, Katana looked Turbine in the optics and told him what she decided.

"I think I might join them. The Autobots. After seeing what the Decepticons did, I don't think I could live with myself if I know what they're capable of, and do nothing to stop them. I don't know, what do you think?"

Turbine chuckled at his best friend.

"Well," he said, "if you thought this through and think it's the right thing, then I support you. Even if I didn't agree I know there's nothing I or anyone else can do to stop you once you've made a decision. Just promise me a few things."

"Okay…"

"One, no sassing unless you have to. Two, swallow your pride. Three, don't hesitate to contact me or anyone else if you need help. Four, don't have all of the fun to yourself. Deal?"

She rolled her optics, then smiled at the mech in front of her and agreed.

Walking into the Autobot camp that was set up at the hospital and asking how to join actually went better than what Katana planned. The commander was the biggest mech she'd ever seen. Katana was a fairly tall femme, but she barely came up to his chest. Surprisingly enough, while he didn't look overjoyed that she just waltzed in, he didn't get angry or kick her out, instead giving her the address to an Autobot recruitment office. So there she was, waiting to be called for the interview process. She was finally brought to the room in back, where a mech sat on the opposite side of a small table. After a quick introduction, he began.

"Can you tell me of your education and if you have any prior experience with the military?"

"I went to Salvo Military Academy. When I reached the higher grades, I studied battle strategy and psychology on the side."

"What is your current occupation?"

"I'm a criminal profiler. My team and I analyze dangerous criminals who have not been arrested, and I apprehend them once enough information has been compiled."

"Have you ever been in trouble with the law, and were charges pressed?"

"When I was younger, I was arrested for trespassing. I stayed in lock up for a night, but no one pressed charges."

"Do you have any physical injuries or other disabilities that may impact your ability to serve?"

"No."

"Have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness or personality disorder?"

"No."

"Have you ever had any homicidal or suicidal thoughts in the past, and have you ever acted on or attempted to act on them?"

"…No."

"You hesitated."

"I wasn't expecting a question of that nature."

The interview continued well into the afternoon, ending with her having to agree to a medical examination, psychiatric evaluation, and tests of her physical capabilities, all of which would be performed the next morning. She also had to give them full access to her records. The recruiter told her that she would receive her results a few days afterwards. Katana recorded the recruiters comm. number, and made her way home.

Katana's physical showed that she was in peak condition. She performed around average on the firing range, doing better with pistols and smaller rifles than she did heavy weaponry. She demolished the obstacle course, showing off her speed, agility, and quick thinking. Her speed and cunning also allowed her to take down each opponent in the ring, and she was a master with swords and other melee weapons. She did not perform as well during strength testing, and she was easily distracted when given more mundane tasks. Her psych eval. showed that she was tenacious, proud, and reluctant to accept assistance. While she displayed no obvious signs of violent tendencies or malevolent motives, she seemed morally gray at times. Her records from the Academy showed that she had always been very stubborn, and easily went off task. She never blatantly disrespected authority, but showed no fear in voicing her opinion, and she was often penalized for coming off a bit to assertive, even "sassy." After a few days of deliberation, it was decided that there was no reason to deny her, and her experience in the military academy allowed her to skip boot camp. Katana was stationed with the same team that was at the hospital sight, merely because of the convenience, and she would travel with them to a nearby base. The recruitment officer met her in person and gave her the name of the commander, and he was a bit concerned when she cursed rather loudly.

"Is something wrong?", he asked.

"I'm an idiot.", she replied. "I met a Prime, and the first thing I said to him was, "'Sup."


End file.
